Three up-and-coming young professionals trace their roots to Gadsden County

Three young adults with impactful jobs in the community were honored last week by several servant leaders of Gadsden County.

Christian Unity in the Community is a group of local clergy who belong to different churches and have different backgrounds, but all share a common goal.

That goal is to improve Gadsden County by increasing Christian presence in the community.

The organization, along with Sheriff Morris Young and other community leaders, recognized the three individuals for their success.

Retired elementary school educator Rosa Barkley said Ivy Salters, who was one of the three, was an honor student who excelled academically from elementary school through college.

Salters is now the branch vice-president for VyStar Credit Union in Tallahassee.

“Coming from this community, what shifted everything for me as a student and taking over my career and being in charge of that was exposure, being exposed to different things and understanding that the world is so much bigger than just Gadsden County,” Salters said. “Not that there’s not enough here, but being taken out of Gadsden County and being put in the Upward Bound program and being put in different things on campus at Florida A&M University just showed me that the world is so big, and the possibilities are endless, and I’m in control of that.”

Two local attorneys were also recognized.

Pictured from left to right: Jasmine Matter, Sheriff Morris Young, Landus Anderson, Ivy Salters. Last week, Mattear, Anderson, and Salters were honored by community leaders of Gadsden County for their individual successes.

Jasmine Mattear, whose roots run deep in Gadsden County, is an assistant state attorney.

She said her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are from Gadsden County.

Assistant State Attorney Sarah Dugan, who is the chief of State Attorney Jack Campbell’s Gadsden office, said Mattear is a great trial attorney who is very fair and reasonable.

Dugan also said that Mattear is passionate about helping Gadsden County, especially young women.

“She - on her own - has come to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go talk at this school to elementary schoolers or middle schoolers about how I got on this path and what I do with this job,’ and she really wants to inspire them,” Dugan said.

Mattear said she’s inspired everyday by the people that she meets in the community.

“My whole family is from here and they’ve been here forever, and everything that I am is a product of them, and what they have poured into me,” Mattear said.

Mattear who is a member of St. Matthews Primitive Baptist Church in St. Hebron said her church family also helped guide her in the right direction.

Judge Nina Ashenafi Richardson who presented attorney Landus Anderson he is a young man of God says.

Judge Richardson said Anderson’s family raised him with a spiritual grounding.

“As a person, he is a gentleman,” Richardson said. “He’s a kind gentleman; his parents raised him right, very respectful, very mannerable, very studious and what I love about Landus is he has overcome so many personal challenges.”

Richardson said it’s important to have events to recognize Gadsden County graduates to encourage them.

“It allows all of us to continue to shine a light on them and also to remind them that we are all here for them,” Richardson said.

Judge Richardson said she had the honor of swearing in Anderson, who was admitted to the Florida Bar earlier this year.

She said Anderson didn’t want his swearing-in ceremony to take place in Leon County - he wanted to take his oath as an attorney at the Gadsden County Courthouse.

Anderson, who is an associate attorney for Stearns Weaver Miller law firm, said Gadsden County has his heart, and his life has come full circle.

“I think of all the seeds that were planted in me a long time ago,” Anderson said.

He said the tough love he received while in the Gadsden County Public School system helped shape him.

The young attorney also said he unknowingly picked up many great characteristics throughout the years such as resilience, positivity and optimism from those he admired, like his grandmother and Sheriff Morris Young.

Anderson, who suffered from a physical disability at an early age, said there was a time when he was tired of others staring at his arm.

“My grandmother said to me, ‘Everyone is going through something,” Anderson shared. “Sometimes you can see it; sometimes you can’t see it.”

Anderson, who has worked with Attorney Benjamin Crump on the front lines fighting for justice, said his life’s mission is to help people embrace what they’re going through and turn it into something positive for themselves.

Erin Hill - erin@gadsdencountytimes.com

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Three up-and-coming young professionals trace their roots to Gadsden County

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Guide to the 15th annual Farm Tour – Farms across North Florida and South Georgia to participate in this weekend’s Farm Tour – including one farm in Gadsden County

Quincy man’s drug trafficking charges dropped

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